


First Mission

by Flick (raynon)



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album)
Genre: Alcohol, Gen, Party really wants to talk about his feelings, Pre-Killjoys (Danger Days), Selective mute Kobra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25552474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raynon/pseuds/Flick
Summary: The first time Party Poison ever got drunk.
Relationships: Kobra Kid & Party Poison (Danger Days)
Kudos: 14





	First Mission

**Author's Note:**

> i'm working on a multi-chapter fic at the moment regarding my own concepts for killjoy backstories, but adhd make my brain go brrrrrr so it's taking a while. anyway, this was written in like 3 hours and it shows ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Party and Kobra got in the Trans AM and shut the doors. Kobra slammed his a little harder than he meant, catching Party’s attention. “You okay?” Party asked, twirling his keyring around his finger at first.

Kobra slouched back in the passenger’s seat and nodded.

“This is sort of our first real mission. Together. Kind of exciting, right?” Party smiled, turning on the engine. He wasn’t completely foreign to the way Kobra would shrink into himself sometimes, but it didn’t stop him from wondering about what sort of thoughts were bouncing around in that head of his.

Kobra hummed in acknowledgement, pushing his sunglasses further up his nose.

Party stared at him for another few seconds, then took off driving. “D’you mind if I just, kinda, talk?”

“Go ahead.”

“Thanks.” Party didn’t talk, though, at least for the first minute. “When Dr. D first asked us to respond to an SOS, I wasn’t really sure that I heard him correctly. I still have a lot of, um, not insecurities, but I guess hesitation? Yeah. That he still doesn’t trust me around other zonerunners. And I get that. BLi had me good and tight in their clutches for the majority of my life, and what I did isn’t a fix-all to everything. Obviously. The new Director isn’t much different from the last one, unfortunately.”

Kobra nodded again, staring forward. As much as he would have preferred to drive in silence, he also understood that the BLi drugs Party was on was going to fuck up his system for a while to come. The worst of the recovery was over, but there was still a lot of mental reconfiguration he needed to go through. He needed to learn how to come to terms with experiencing emotions, be they good or bad.

“But he radioed us anyway! I didn’t sound too excited on the call, did I?” Party asked.

Kobra shook his head. “You were fine.”

Party chuckled. “Good.” He inhaled deeply, straightening his back. “I know you’re already used to going on runs and seeing other crews, so it must seem a little coconuts that I’m so eager about this. I mean...okay. More scared than eager. Not because I think that I think our rendezvous team is gonna double cross us or anything, but everything is still so new. I dunno what to expect.”

That sounded like a signal for Kobra to chime in, but his instinct was to shift in minor annoyance. His voice really wasn’t up to being clear, nor did his lips feel like moving. But it didn’t serve either of them well to let Party get neurotic, so he tried to enunciate best he could over the roar of the engine. “It’s gonna be fine. You’re a little bit of a legend, and as long as we do what we go there to do, they’ll have no valid reason to go all...” His hand gave a vague gesture. “...Mexican standoff.”

Party smiled again. “Yeah.” There was another beat of silence. “D’you want me to shut up?”

Kobra bit his tongue. “...No.”

For the remainder of the ride, Party rambled off about color schemes and some art ideas he had for the AM and the diner, ideas he hadn’t gotten around to yet because he couldn’t find the right paint yet, which led to a memory about all the confiscated paraphernalia BLi would hoard and how wasteful it all seemed now that Party reflected back on it. But working on the inside didn’t give him any right to take what he wanted, regardless.

The sky was only starting to mute its vibrant blue in preparation for sunset by the time they reached their destination in Zone 5. The other crew of six had a fire going, though, and they all turned to watch the AM pull up. Party swallowed and slid his mask on when he watched them all stand at attention. Kobra just hopped out without opening his door and moved around to the trunk to pull out the coolant and motor oil the other crew needed to fix their vehicle.

“Well, well! So this is Bat City’s number one most wanted,” a runner in a more flowy floral print shirt called out. “In the flesh and blood.”

Party slowly stepped out and smiled, and gave a flourished bow. “A pleasure to meet your acquaintance. This is my...” He gestured back to Kobra. “...my associate.”

“Yeah, Kobra Kid.” The floral shirt closed some distance between them. “Heard you two joined forces some time back, the rumors are pretty electric. Wouldn’t be opposed if you stayed a while and cleared up any falsities. We’ll make it worth your while.” Another runner stepped up from behind him, brandishing two glass bottles. The liquid inside was cloudy white.

“Let’s wait till the sun drops a little more, yeah?” Kobra spoke up suddenly, tossing supplies in their direction. “You should know day drinking is risky in heat like this.”

Party’s brow raised, and he refrained from looking to Kobra. He didn’t want to admit he’d never actually been drunk before, and the eagerness battling anxiety in the pit of his chest suddenly powered up to full strength. “But, yeah! We’d love to join you for a bit...make sure that your getaway doesn’t go costa rica or anything.”

“Solid! We saved you seats by the fire.”

Kobra tapped Party in the middle of his back as he moved closer to the group, and Party followed with all the confidence he could muster. So far, everyone seemed to welcome the Killjoys with intrigue, and it didn’t take long to get Party to start telling stories. Kobra decided to hang back by the crew’s Jeep for the time being and help out with repairs.

By the time the sun finally dipped below the sandy horizon, Party was handed a bottle. He stared down into it and swirled the liquid around. “So what’s this fancy concoction?” he asked.

“Pulque,” the floral shirt-- Flash Rabbit --answered. “It’s an ancient recipe from cactuses. Try your best not to taste it.”

Party took a swig a second too soon, his whole face scrunching up as the sourness settled intensely on his tongue before swallowing. “Fuck, you weren’t kidding!” he laughed, passing the bottle to his left. “I heard a lot of people telling me how great drinking is, but I didn’t know it could be a challenge.”

“Wait--” Another runner, Desert Eagle, sipped from the bottle. Her sleeveless jumpsuit was patterned in blues and golds and various feathers dangled from her hair. “The infamous Party Poison never  _ drank _ before?”

Party’s eyes widened.  _ Fuck _ . “Uh...yeah. Guess so.” The other bottle was passed back to him, and he grinned before knocking back another two shots with encouragement from the others.

Kobra sighed from behind a cigarette, watching from the near distance.

It hardly took more than a half hour for the effects to kick in. Party’s face was flushed bright red from under his mask down to his chest, and he was propped up on his knees with his arms spread out. “The desert is so great! It’s so...open and wild and I feel like it could just swallow me up and I wouldn’t care. Before escaping, I had NEVER seen the sky have so many colors. Can you fuckin’ believe? And the  _ stars!  _ Wow, Better Living doesn’t give a shit about stars. That’s a tragedy.”

Flash Rabbit pat Party on the shoulder. “We’re glad you chose our side, Poison.”

Party took a moment to catch his breath. “...Sorry. I feel--” His own laughter interrupted him for a second. “Man, I’m not gonna get tired of saying that. I feel. I  _ feeeeel _ . But anyway. I really do feel like I’m really loud right now.”

“Just as long as you don’t catch any Drac attention, no better place to be loud than out here.” Desert Eagle raised a shot glass at him.

Party squeaked as he giggled, and sat down properly. His grin twitched smaller for a moment. “Yeah. Guess you’re right. It’s just...you ever have so much, I don’t even know. But it’s so much coiled up inside you that you don’t know what to do with it? Or are you guys just used to letting it all out...out here?”

Desert Eagle raised a brow. “Wanna go throw rocks at a Joshua tree?” she offered.

“Fuck yeah I do!” Party passed the bottle and slowly pushed himself to his feet with the grace of a newborn deer. Seconds later, he felt an arm around his waist and turned his head with surprise. “Ko-bro!”

Kobra remained quiet, nodding to Eagle before following her thirty feet away to the tree.

“This is Kobra, did you meet him yet?” Party slurred, patting his brother’s chest. “He doesn’t feel like talking today, and that’s alright. Sometimes talking is overrated, or, I guess it’s just too much for the mouth. Or sometimes there’s just not anything--”

“You don’t have to explain anything,” Eagle responded. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to cut you off.”

Kobra nodded in gratitude.

Party’s mouth fell open for a moment. “Yeah, nah. You’re right.” Once he found his footing, he took a step away from Kobra and was given a rock. His fingertips felt along the rough ridges at first, then he gave it a firm squeeze before launching it as hard as he could. The rock went flying between two twisted branches without hitting anything.

“Got anything you wanna vent about?” Eagle asked. Her first rock collided with the trunk with a hard  _ thud _ .

“Don’t think it’s really...uh, hm.” Party bent over slowly and picked up another rock. “I dunno if I should be talkin’ about stuff like that yet. I shouldn’t be ruining my new rep, right?”

Eagle threw another rock, another  _ thud _ . “Yeah. It was just an offer.”

Party’s second throw was just as aggressive, and this time, he snapped off a twig. “I will say this, though. I’m livin’ in total 180 right now. It’s like I gotta learn all my directions again and I keep hearin’ people say all this...stuff about me. Fuckin’ bat shit stuff. A voice of a revolution, but--” He groaned. “I’m not the singer they want. I wouldn’t mind...strivin’ to that goal, but I’m not. Yet. Who fuckin’ knows, maybe I’ll never be.”

Kobra lit up his fourth cigarette of the night and offered it to Party.

He took a long drag, then almost threw the cigarette at the tree before remembering how light it was and how much distance it certainly would not make, and handed it back to his brother.

Eagle flipped a rock in the air before throwing it. “You can’t control what people are gonna think of you,” she told him. “But you’re out here for a reason. Whether it’s for fighting the industry, or saving the right to sing...maybe you just gotta remember to see what tomorrow brings.”

Party finally hit the trunk with an odd  _ crack _ . “Maybe.” He inhaled deeply, and turned back to look at the jeep. “You think you guys are gonna be okay?”

“No worries, Mister-- is it Mister?”

“Yeah.”

“Mister Poison. You’ve helped us out a lot.” Eagle smiled brightly. “You should probably be gettin’ on home. Never wise to skip out on sleeping in shelter when you got the option.”

Kobra didn’t need to be told twice. He slipped his hand into Party’s jacket pocket to steak the keys, and nodded to Eagle in gratitude before returning to the AM.

Party giggled, and gave a small bow to Desert Eagle. “I hope we meet again in safe circumstances,” he said, and wandered back over to the fire. “Hey, it was really great meeting everyone. That cactus stuff is fire, I ‘preciate you sharing with me.”   
  
Flash Rabbit raised the bottle to him. “‘Till next time, Party Poison.”

Party gave a little skip as he returned to the car, flopping in sideways so his feet were sticking out the window and his back was bent uncomfortably over the center console. The back of his head pressed against Kobra’s shoulder, but he was able to ignore the pain over the vibration of the car at first. “Nice people.”

Kobra took one more drag before flicking the butt into the sand. “Mission accomplished,” he mumbled. “Don’t lose your feet.”

“Hey, Ko-bro?” Party’s neck craned back even farther, his eyes almost pressed up against Kobra’s chin. “...I love you.”

Kobra ruffled his red locks before driving off into the night.


End file.
